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JUBA, South Sudan — The president of Kenya and the prime minister of Ethiopia arrived Thursday in South Sudan for talks with President Salva Kiir on how to find a political solution to the fighting that has engulfed this young nation for more than a week.
JUBA, South Sudan — As clashes between government troops and rebels continued in South Sudan on Thursday, diplomats moved swiftly to drag the warring sides to the negotiating table but announced none of the breakthroughs they had been hoping for.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia flew to the South Sudanese capital, Juba, for a closed-door discussion with Mr. Kiir. Diplomats from Africa, Europe and the United States have called for an end to the hostilities and urged the two sides to begin negotiations before the violence escalates into an all-out civil war.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia arrived Thursday in South Sudan for talks with President Salva Kiir, pressing for a political solution to the fighting that has engulfed this young nation for more than a week.
The revolt, which began last week, has spread rapidly to half of the country’s 10 states and to more than 20 cities and towns nationwide. Heavy fighting between government forces and rebels continued in South Sudan on Thursday, particularly in the strategic city of Malakal.
Diplomats from Africa, Europe and the United States have urgently called for the two sides in the crisis to begin negotiations before the violence escalates into an all-out civil war. Officials called the closed-door discussion with Mr. Kiir and the two regional leaders on Thursday constructive, but the hoped-for result – a plan for formal talks between the two sides to begin – was not announced at the end of their hours-long session.
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese have sought refuge in United Nations compounds across the country, fleeing violence that is believed to have claimed thousands of lives, shaking a young nation that gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
Indeed, even as the meeting took place, a spokesman for the South Sudanese military, Col. Philip Aguer, said government forces were waging a pitched battle against rebels in the city of Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile, with the government in control of the northern part of the city and the rebels in the southern half.
Mr. Kiir spoke out against ethnically motivated killings on Wednesday in a Christmas address. In his address at a cathedral in Juba, the capital, Mr. Kiir acknowledged that Christmas this year was “very gloomy” but told his people: “Don’t despair. You hope for the best. Don’t lose hope.”
The crisis in South Sudan began on Dec. 15 after what Mr. Kiir described as a coup attempt by soldiers loyal to the former vice president, Riek Machar. Mr. Kiir dismissed Mr. Machar and the entire cabinet back in July. Mr. Machar remains in an undisclosed location after fleeing the capital. Many of his allies were arrested and he has said their release is a precondition for starting peace talks, a position Mr. Kiir has rejected.
Last week, Mr. Kiir accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. Mr. Machar, whom Mr. Kiir summarily dismissed in July, has denied the accusation and says he will sit down at the negotiating table only after his political allies have been freed from detention.
But the political dispute has spiraled into a broader humanitarian crisis. The United Nations special representative to South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, said in a videoconference from the capital here on Thursday that well over 1,000 lives had been lost in the conflict already. More than 50,000 people are seeking refuge at United Nations compounds across the country. The peacekeeping force is currently overstretched trying to protect them, she said, adding that she expected reinforcements of personnel and equipment within 48 hours.
The battle for the city of Malakal, in the northern part of the country, was particularly fierce on Wednesday. Since Tuesday, 40 people have been treated for gunshot wounds at the hospital there, including five who have died, said Michael White, who is in charge of the Doctors Without Borders mission in South Sudan.
Ms. Johnson said that the United Nations did not see the conflict coming. “We knew that there were tensions and that this could lead to problems, but I don’t think any South Sudanese, nor any of us observers, in country or outside, expected an unraveling of the stability so quickly,” she said. “The speed, the gravity and the scale, I think nobody would have expected.”
The sound of tanks and rocket-propelled grenades echoed through the streets of the city on Wednesday. Some reports said that Malakal had fallen to the rebels, but a military spokesman said its fate was still undecided. “It’s not clear who controls the city,” said the spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer.
The dispute stems from a power struggle between grudging collaborators turned outright rivals, but the violence quickly shifted into attacks against civilians and reprisals between different ethnic groups. Mr. Kiir is a Dinka, the country’s largest ethnic group, while Mr. Machar is a Nuer, the second largest. South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war.
In Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity State, 26 people required surgery as a result of the fighting last week. The most serious wounds were inflicted by opportunistic looters wielding machetes in the Bentiu market, Mr. White said. The city is in the hands of a general who sides with Mr. Machar.
While an uneasy calm prevailed in Juba on Thursday, some fighting continued in the strategic city of Bor, the capital of Jonglei state that is home to a United Nations capital where an estimated 17,000 people have sought refuge, Ms. Johnson said. Heavier fighting centered in the oil-producing states of Unity and Upper Nile, disrupting production as foreign oil workers have fled, in some cases shutting down their facilities before departing to limit damage.
“Bentiu is still under control of forces loyal to Machar,” Colonel Aguer said. “For Bentiu, the S.P.L.A. is now studying what to do about it, what action to take.” The S.P.L.A. is the South Sudanese military, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
Toby Lanzer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said seven civilians on the United Nations base in Malakal had been wounded Thursday in the heavy crossfire from the pitched battles there, one of them dying from the injuries. The United Nations hospital has already treated more than 95 people with gunshot wounds.
In a sign of the confusion surrounding the conflict, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan said in a statement on Wednesday that it was not in a position to confirm a report by Navi Pillay, the United Nations’ top human rights official, of a mass grave in Bentiu.
“It’s a very bad situation there right now,” Mr. Lanzer said. “The two sides are really vying for who can control strategic locations in and around the city.”
The mission said it was “deeply concerned over reports of extrajudicial killings in Juba and other locations in South Sudan,” adding that it was “investigating reports of such atrocities.”
Teresa Gabriel fled to the United Nations compound in Malakal on Tuesday with her mother, sister and four children. When she came to the compound, she said, she saw looting, fires and wounded people. She said the people taking refuge there were from a mix of ethnic groups, Dinka, Nuer and others.
Addressing the widespread concern about killings, lootings and other abuses, Mr. Kiir told the hundreds of people gathered at the cathedral in Juba: “Anybody that goes to the residential areas to kill people or to loot the property of others and hoping that he’s doing it to support me must know that that person is not supporting me. Instead, you are destroying me.”
The fighting made it difficult to get aid into the city. The airport in Malakal was closed on Thursday as a result of the shooting. The humanitarian situation in the compound is difficult, Ms. Gabriel explained. “There is no food, no water, and the bathrooms are really bad.”
The South Sudanese military has retaken Bor, the capital of the strategic but unstable Jonglei State, which rebel forces took control of last week. Three American aircraft flying into Bor to evacuate American citizens were attacked on Saturday morning and forced to turn back. Four American service members on board were wounded, one seriously. A subsequent evacuation mission on Sunday was successful.
But she said it was better than being outside the compound. “We could hear the gunfire coming from the town,” Ms. Gabriel said.
As hundreds of civilians returned to Bor on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported that the streets were littered with bodies and signs of looted stores were visible.
Isma’il
Kushkush reported from Khartoum, Sudan.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that at least 92,000 people had been displaced by the violence, and that “the real number of people displaced is likely to be significantly higher.” Nearly 60,000 people have sought safety at United Nations peacekeeping bases, including about 20,000 in Juba alone.
Aid agencies say they need $166 million to address the repercussions of the violence, including sanitation, health care, shelter, food and water.
James Gajaak, 32, the chairman of a committee responsible for displaced people at a United Nations compound near the Juba airport, said that 300 to 400 people were arriving each day, many with their possessions loaded in enormous piles on top of the vans that dropped them off. “We don’t have enough water, and there is no shelter at all,” he said. “Even the 4-day-old babies have no shelter at all.”
Dr. Christine Bimansha, a physician at the Doctors Without Borders clinic in Juba, said that clinic employees were already treating more than 200 people a day and were concerned about clean water and sanitation. “An outbreak of any transmissible disease — that’s our greatest fear,” she said.
Isma’il Kushkush contributed reporting from Khartoum, Sudan, and Rick Gladstone from New York.
